Bottled Water & The Environment

A Global Deception

Lets begin with some facts about the production and distribution of bottled water around the world. The first misconception is that bottled water is in some way good for you. Also that it is a green product being water, rather than some beverage such as a cola drink. Bottled water has been shown to be no better than tap water in many cases. In addition, the plastic bottles used to store and sell it are in themselves an environmental nightmare. As you may have seen from television advertisements, we produce enough plastic bottles every year to stretch many times around the globe. Many of these used bottles are found on beaches and the oceans are covered in them. There is a current in the Pacific that focuses floating trash in a huge radius; ships are reporting a huge increase in plastic bottles floating in this area to the point where it is now a hazardous area to sail across. The area is called the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or the "Pacific Trash Vortex." You can read more about this unbelievable 100 million ton tragedy here.

There are over 1.5 million barrels of oil used every year to make these bottles; of the ones that do not end up in the ocean, 90% end up in landfills.

The problem is that tap water is increasingly undrinkable in many places. In Britain, the water quality is above average for the Western world but unless you live in North Wales or the mountains of Scotland, the water is still very mediocre. That fact combined with the marketing efforts of some very large companies like Coca-Cola means that people have been turning to bottled water in their masses over the last 20 years. It wouldn't be so bad if the water was in glass bottles because the plastic used to make water bottles is not only unfriendly to the environment to manufacture, chemical components also seep into the water if it is stored for a while or left in sunlight. This is why some bottled water might taste a bit strange if it has been left for a period. You will have no idea how long water has been sitting in a bottle either. Although they all look "new" some of it may have been stored for months causing this chemical seepage. To put this in perspective, a recent research study by the Environmental Working Group discovered 38 contaminating chemicals in just 10 brands of bottled water. This is almost scandalous but there is no regulation to prevent it. PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic has been identified as a risk for a long time now. It is widely accepted that PET containers should not be reused as the PET leaches the toxin DEHA into the container contents. As well as known liver problems, reproductive issues and is still being studied for its suspected cancer risk. The 2 million tons of PET that the US buries in landfills alone is an astronomical amount!

The end result of "voluntary regulation" is that the bottled water being sold can contain everything from fertilizers to drugs like paracetomol and birth control remedies. The only way to avoid ingesting poor quality water with contaminants is to filter it properly and use an ioniser to sterilize and reactivate the water with essential trace elements and minerals. The added benefits of having alkaline water make owning an ioniser a great way to stay healthy and feel more energy, without the risk of complex toxic chemicals entering your body and causing disease or disorders.